“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” Julia Child. And this is what she has been doing for over 15 years at her home and on her blog since 2007…baking, baking and more baking!  This baking deva is also obsessed with a clean kitchen and delicate melt-in-mouth Macarons. Baking, Macarons…oh yes I can hear you shout out ‘Deeba’. Lite Bite is honored & elated to bring in Deeba of PAB as the first Indian food blogger for the series AFBHLS. When I invited her for the series she took no time to decide and asked me when can she send me the post. I took more time to come out from the state of disbelief, re reading her confirmation mail again & again and to let the euphoria of featuring Deeba in AFBHLS sink in 🙂

A SAHM (stay-at-home-mother) in her forties who needs no introduction to the on line food world. Deeba likes experimenting in her kitchen and has a current passion for making as well as developing recipes that use fruit, mainly in desserts, and bakes using alternate grains like oats etc. In between juggling with many roles at home and outside, she manages to take out time for herself and her passion that is photography and writing about food & recipes for her blog.

A talented photographer that she is, each photograph on her blog speaks about her love for nature & art in great depth. The amount of time she spends in arranging the props, selecting the background, deciding the theme, lighting effects to the color combination is what makes her photographs distinct.

I wanted to add many of my favorite recipes from PAB here, but was a little apprehensive to break the flow of her beautiful writing.  Could not resist myself to add just about a few which showcase her passion for Macarons, Vintage vessel collection and healthy recipes.

Chocolate granola Pic courtesy Deeba

This Gluten free Chocolate Granola is one of the healthy recipes on her blog which I enjoyed reading more for the personal experiences attached with it.

Vintage Indian Pots and Pans Pic; courtesy Deeba

This post on Culinary journey brings out her love for collecting vintage Indian pots & Pans, which she uses skilfully in her photographs.

Vanilla Macarons Pic courtesy; Deeba

Don’t miss out to browse some of the delectable melt-in-mouth Macarons that she bakes and host monthly events at Mac Tweets along with another favorite food blogger of mine, Jamie.

How meticulously she has worked upon creating this post, aren’t these wonderful collages of her recipes and about her interests look pretty?

No..no..I am not holding you for more, over to you Deeba…

Deeba

“When Sanjeeta @ Litebite {don’t you just love the name?} asked me if I’d like to be part of her series ‘Awesome Food Bloggers and Their Healthy-Living Secrets’ , how could I say no. I feel honoured to share my thoughts on ‘healthy living’. AFBHLS attempts to bring forth some food bloggers who will share their experiences on food, recipes, health and ways of cooking with you all.”

“Sanjeeta runs a wonderful blog in India, healthy and delicious, and keeps a hawks eye on nutrition, diet and healthy stuff that she churns out of her kitchen. ‘Have kids, will innovate’ seems to keep her going, yet she manages to take out time to introduce her 97 year old grandmother to new cuisines! Bravo…. I will attempt to add my own two penny bit to the healthy series. The word cloud below might give you an idea of what rules my food blog.”

I am by no means a ‘diet’ ruled food blogger even though my terrible teen, also known as the dieting diva, seems to call the shots these days. I believe in balanced living, and am happy to include butter in my recipe when required, and experiment with olive oil at other times. Mr PAB firmly believes there is but one life, so we need to ‘live it up‘. Nice mantra, yet as far as food goes, I firmly hold the reins!

Olive oil in cakes, crackers, biscotti, nut meal in pastry for dessert, fruits in any and every form in baking that help reduce sugar and lend natural sweetness and nutrition, homemade curd cheeses like quark and ricotta in cheesecakes, hung yogurt in frozen yogurt and ice cream … and attractive presentation are my ‘healthy’ secrets! Add some delicious homemade granola to it, and every morning has a HAPPY beginning!

My passion these days, bordering with obsession, is baking with fruit. I am a locavaore so believe in living from season to season. This crostata I have for you today is par of my fruit baking passion, made with the last of late summer stone fruit! My other passion is experimenting with whole grains, and my most successful venture so far has been these Wholewheat and Oatmeal Cookies that are a staple in our cookie jar.

My Healthy-Living Secrets

I just can’t seem to exercise, not built that way I guess! That’s not to say that I’m lazy. I’m up at 5am, and on the go all day, pottering around in the kitchen, taking photographs, working on the computer, shopping for vintage kitchen accessories, gardening, tweeting, the rare drawings, training the dog, rearranging the house, talking endlessly to neighbors and their kids, thinking up recipes, planning menus … and chasing butterflies!

Oh and I love driving {and the colour black}, and surprise, surprise, despite all the desserts I make, I do not have a sweet tooth!! Colours of the season inspire me, as do food blogs and creativity. I think a vital ingredient for being healthy, and more importantly happy, is to follow your passion! BE YOU! Do what you want to do, follow your dreams, get out of the rut, think out of the box, live for yourself as well, take time out for YOU!

And here is an egg less Peach & Plum Crostata for the readers of Lite Bite form Passionate About Baking. A free form rustic pie which is full of the goodness of fruit, and delicious too! I like making this because it uses seasonal fruit {try it with apples,walnuts & cinnamon, or maybe pears}, and doesn’t need a special baking tin for it.

Peach and Plum Crostata

Serves 8
Ingredients:
Dough:

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup ground oats {or cornmeal}
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled, diced into small pieces
• 1/3 cup buttermilk

Fruit Filling:

• 6-7 plums, stoned, chopped
• 4-5 peaches, stoned, chopped
• 1/2 vanilla bean scraped
• 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar {increase if fruit are tart}
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 2 tbsp cornflour

Topping:

• 1-2 tsp low fat cream {or 1 egg white + 1 tbsp milk}
• 2 tbsp vanilla sugar

Method:
To make the dough:

• Combine flour,oats, sugar, and salt in a processor; pulse 2-3 times. Add butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the processor running, slowing pour the buttermilk through the chute, processing until the dough forms a ball.
• Remove the dough ball and adhere any remaining pieces of dough to it, then wrap in plastic wrap or parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30-35 minutes. (I did it for almost an hour because the weather was HOT)
• Preheat the oven to180C.
• To make the fruit filling
• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and toss gently, making sure that the cornflour coats the fruit. {This will prevent too much juice from leaking out while the crostata bakes.}
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Starting at the center of the dough, roll out, forming a 14-15-inch wide circle.
• Place the dough with parchment paper on a baking sheet. Add the fruit mixture to the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
• Fold the border over the filling, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds.
• Lightly whisk the cream {or egg white and milk} in a small bowl. Brush dough with the cream, and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
• Bake for 45minutes to an hour, or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. {Cutting it too quickly will cause the dough to crack}.
• It’s best served at room temperature or slightly warm, as is, or with vanilla ice cream, a dollop of creme fraiche, or freshly whipped cream.

Thanks Deeba for this scrumptious Peach & Plum Crostata recipe. I completely agree with you that getting involved in these simple day-to-day activities such as gardening, rearranging house, shopping, cleaning, socializing with neighbors and chasing butterflies could be some of the easiest & economical ways to attain good health. I for sure need to learn ‘time management’ also from you apart from baking these scrumptious goodies  🙂

At times when juggling with numerous roles in a day, demanding kids, never ending household chores and to blog regularly weighs me down, inspiring Food bloggers like Deeba come across as a great motivation. For life is too short to give up but to live for your passion, come what may.

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